Fwd: EHHI asks for peer review of data before publication of findings

EHHI asks for peer review of data before publication of findings

Again, From the Busy Desk of Nancy Alderman

January 5, 2009

Dear CT DEP Commissioner Gina McCarthy, Brian Toal, Environmental Health Section, CT Department of Public Health, and CT Attorney General Richard Blumenthal,

This letter is to clarify Environment and Human Health, Inc.'s  (EHHI) concern with respect to the final analysis of the data that will be collected from the Connecticut Synthetic Turf study.  EHHI continues to emphasize the need for peer review of the data analysis and its interpretation prior to the publication of the findings by the Connecticut Department of Public Health.

Two examples of why this peer review is needed are sufficient to illustrate the point.

The first example is the study by the Connecticut Department of Public Health where they said they needed more information  in order to  "document a hazard" - yet they said there was no reason not to install new fields. This finding is now presented by industry as "Connecticut finds that the synthetic turf fields are safe."

The second example is the Norwegian Study that found that there were both inhaled dust and the vapor exposures to many toxic chemicals but would not evaluate the health risk of the majority of the chemicals they found.  That study is now presented as a study showing that the synthetic turf has not been shown to be hazardous.

All current studies are limited by incomplete explanation of the assumptions and limitations of the data analysis.  Three limitations are (1) The failure to characterize the variability of the materials used; (2) The assumption that ones' lifetime exposures to  synthetic turf would be only one exposure; and (3) the failure to consider not only cancer  but also non-cancerous outcomes.

When the Connecticut Department of Public Health does its  "Risk Analysis",  the work must be peer reviewed prior to its release - regardless of the outcome.  There have been strong positions that have been outlined by nationally recognized experts for serious health concerns from these fields.  Moreover there are anecdotal reports of very serious health outcomes in youth who have been exposed to the crumb rubber.

Because of the potential for the continued misuse of technical data by industry and others, and because of the continued health concerns by expert health scientists,  the risk assessment derived from the data collected  in this study by the CT Department of Public Health must  be peer reviewed before the risk analysis is made public. This report must stand up to the scrutiny of many, including industry.

                        Sincerely,
                      
        David Brown, Sc.D., Public Health Toxicologist, Environment and Human Health, Inc.

        Nancy Alderman, President,  Environment and Human Health, Inc.


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Nancy Alderman, President
Environment and Human Health, Inc.
1191 Ridge Road
North Haven, CT 06473
(phone)   203-248-6582
(fax)        203-288-7571
http://www.ehhi.org